eek its support to attain
their ends? It will undoubtedly be said, that many honest people are
sincerely religious, and that without profit; but is uprightness of heart
always accompanied with knowledge?

It is urged, that many learned men, many men of genius have been strongly
attached to Religion. This proves, that men of genius may have prejudices,
be pusillanimous, and have an imagination, which misleads them and
prevents them from examining subjects coolly. Pascal proves nothing in
favour of Religion, unless that a man of genius may be foolish on some
subjects, and is but a child, when he is weak enough to listen to his
prejudices. Pascal himself tells us, that _the mind may be strong and
contracted, enlarged and weak_. He previously observes, that _a man may
have a sound mind, and not understand every subject equally well; for
there are some, who, having a sound judgment in a certain order of things,
are bewildered in others_.

168.

What is virtue according to theology? _It is_, we are told, _the
conformity of the actions of man to the will of God_. But, what is God?
A being, of whom nobody has the least conception, and whom every one
consequently modifies in his own way. What is the will of God? It is what
men, who have seen God, or whom God has inspired, have declared to be the
will of God. Who are those, who have seen God? They are either fanatics,
or rogues, or ambitious men, whom we cannot believe.

To found Morality upon a God, whom every man paints to himself
differently, composes in his way, and arranges according to his own
temperament and interest, is evidently to found Morality upon the caprice
and imagination of men; it is to found it upon the whims of a sect, a
faction, a party, who believe they have the advantage to adore a true God
to the exclusion of all others.

To establish Morality or the duties of man upon the divine will, is to
found it upon the will, the reveries and the interests of those, who make
God speak, without ever fearing that he will contradict them. In every
Religion, priests alone have a right to decide what is pleasing or
displeasing to their God, and we are certain they will always decide, that
it is what pleases or displeases themselves. The dogmas, the ceremonies,
the morals, and the virtues, prescribed by every Religion, are visibly
calculated only to extend the power or augment the emoluments of the
founders and ministers of these Religions. The dogmas are obscur